Life as seen through the eyes of a frum Reform Jewish rabbi changing the world one Jew at a time

Memorial Day Revisited

Busy today with family, as I imagine many of you are as well. So please enjoy this archived post. And I’ll see you tomorrow.

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thankful to all those who continue to serve each day so that we can be free.

thanks to all the vets and servicemen and women out there.

God bless our men and women in uniform serving our country.

God bless the veterans — and America.

Some of the Facebook statuses, written in honour of a national holiday. Just based on the above statements, which holiday would you guess?

Three years after the conclusion of the War Between the States, May 30 was declared “Decoration Day” — a day to decorate the graves of fallen Union soldiers. By 1890, all Northern States had declared May 30 a state holiday. May 30 was chosen with deliberate care. It was a day that did not coincide with the anniversary of any battle. The Southern states, where Memorial Day was observed at different dates during the immediate post-Civil War period, came to join the Northern States in a May observance about fifty years later.

Memorial Day, as it been unofficially called since just after the Second World War, become the official name in 1967 and, under the Uniform Holidays Bill, was moved to the last Monday in May, beginning in May of 1971.

Flags fly at half-staff until noon in memory of those who gave their lives in defense of the United States.

The statuses, however, might lead one to believe that today we honoured those who serve our country or have served our country.

Like this:

Related

Yep, yep, and yep. I am not sure why it is so hard to honor the dead…Maybe it is just uncomfortable to comprehend. But I’m with you in that it is important to make the distinction between this day and Veteran’s Day.

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